Visit Hotwells Places

Welcome to Visit Hotwells Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Hotwells

  

Hotwells Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Hotwells

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Hotwells history

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Hotwells takes its name from the hot springs which bubble up through the rocks of the Avon Gorge underneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The springs were documented in 1480 by William Worcester, the 15th century chronicler and antiquary. He described the waters as being milky and as warm as those at Bath. By c.1630 the water of Hotwells was becoming known for its medical properties, both in its original form and when used to brew beer. Thomas Fuller, who had been a student of Dr Samuel Ward in the late 1620s, reported that ‘beer brewed thereof is wholesome against the spleen; and Dr. Samuel Ward, afflicted with that malady, and living in Sidney College, was prescribed the constant drinking thereof, though it was costly to bring it through the Severn and narrow seas to Lynn, and thence by the river to Cambridge.’ In 1650 Dr Venner recommended Hotwells water for those ‘who have hot livers, feeble brains, and red pimply faces’ and after 1680 the water became well known as cure for diabetes. The physician Alexander Sutherland, published a summary account of the qualities of Hotwells water in 1773, typically known by that time as “Bristol Water”. Sutherland says of it that “BRISTOL-WATER received in a glass, appears, to the naked eye, colourless, pellucid, and manifestly impregnated with Air, sparkling and bounding through its substance, in the form of little bubbles, as if the whole had been in a ferment.” He says the water tasted “particularly pleasant and soft” was “quite inodorous” and “lukewarm” only, rising from the pump at a constant 76° Fahrenheit. In 1692 the Society of Merchant Venturers leased the springs and a pump room was built. The pump room of 1696 was demolished and replaced by Hotwells House in 1816 which was itself demolished when the river was widened in 1867. In the Georgian era, Hotwells was developed as a spa including the building of Dowry Square in an attempt to compete with Bath. Many visitors came, including the diarist John Evelyn and the travel writer Celia Fiennes, who hunted for Bristol Diamonds in the gorge. The Somerset historian John Collinson came to Hotwells in 1793 seeking recovery from an unspecified lingering illness and died there on 27 August 1793. During the 18th century Hotwells Water was extensively bottled and exported. Daniel Defoe noted in 1724 that there were over 15 glass-houses in Bristol, ‘which are more than in London…and vast numbers of bottles are used for sending the water of the Hotwell not only over England but all over the world.” Alexander Pope was another admirer, claiming in 1739 that ‘I am satisfied that the water at the Well is different from what it is anywhere else.’ Later customers of the water included Admiral Horatio Nelson, whose correspondence includes references to his purchase of Bristol water in 1798. Known for his abstemious habits, it was said ‘He never exceeded four glasses of wine after dinner, and seldom drank three; and even those were diluted with either common or Bristol water.’ The Jacobs Well Theatre, built in 1729, provided entertainment for visitors and Bristolians, however Hotwells never attained the same status as Bath. In the 1790s ‘the celebrated hot mineral spring, denominated the Bristol Hotwell’ still featured in tourist guides. However, the spa went into decline during the Napoleonic Wars and by 1816 a local physician said of Hotwells that ‘It has the silence of the grave, to which it seems the inlet. Not a carriage to be seen once an hour, and scarcely more frequently does a solitary invalid approach the neglected spring.’ A new pump room was built in 1822, but was demolished in 1867 to allow for widening of the River Avon. A new pump was set up in 1877 and continued in use till 1913. However, the pump appears not to have tapped into the original spring. When it became clear that the pump’s waters were polluted, the pipe was sealed off. There were trial borings in 1913 and 1925 to relocate the original spring, but these were unsuccessful. In 1799, the physician Thomas Beddoes opened the Pneumatic Institution in Dowry Square. Free treatment was advertised for those suffering from consumption, asthma, dropsy, “obstinate Venereal Complaints” and scrophula. The laboratory superintendent was Humphry Davy, who investigated nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, using equipment designed by James Watt. Under Davy’s supervision laughing gas parties were held, attended by guests such as Robert Southey, Thomas Wedgwood and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In the 20th century much of the housing in Hotwells was in a poor state of repair, but since the 1970s there has been refurbishment of the older Georgian properties and new housing built on derelict dockside wharves and along the Hotwell Road.

You can visit Hotwells places with Walkfo Hotwells to hear history at Hotwells’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Hotwells has 350 places to visit in our interactive Hotwells map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Hotwells, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Hotwells places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Hotwells & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 350 audio facts unique to Hotwells places in an interactive Hotwells map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Hotwells Places Map
350 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Hotwells historic spots	Hotwells tourist destinations	Hotwells plaques	Hotwells geographic features
Walkfo Hotwells tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Hotwells

  

Best Hotwells places to visit

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Hotwells has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Hotwells’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Hotwells’s information audio spots:

Circomedia Circomedia is a school for contemporary circus and physical theatre based in Bristol . The school offers a variety of training courses and workshops that teach circus skills in the context of physical theatre, performance and creativity .

Wow! Gorillas Wow! Gorillas was a project organised by Bristol Zoo in 2011 that displayed 61 decorated life-sized fibreglass gorilla sculptures on the streets of Bristol, England .

Siege of Bristol Siege of Bristol lasted from the 18th to 26th of October 1326 . Isabella of France and Roger Mortimer’s forces fought the garrison under Hugh Despenser the Elder .

Totterdown, Bristol Totterdown is an inner-suburb of Bristol, England . It is situated just south of the River Avon and to the south-east of Temple Meads railway station .

Westmoreland House Westmoreland House was a building at Nos. 104–106 Stokes Croft, Bristol, next door to the Carriage Works .

Carriage Works, Bristol The Carriage Works (grid reference ST591740) are in Stokes Croft, Bristol, England . Carriage works are located in Bristol .

Lewin’s Mead Unitarian meeting house Lewin’s Mead Unitarian meeting house is a former Unitarian church in Bristol, England . The building was built in the 1950s and 1960s .

St Stephen’s Church, Bristol St Stephen’s Church is the parish church for the city of Bristol. It has been designated by Historic England as a grade I listed building.

Bristol Cenotaph Bristol Cenotaph is a war memorial at the north end of Magpie Park, in Bristol, erected in 1932. It was one of the last built by a major British city after the First World War. Unusually, it was designed by a local female architect Eveline Blacker.

St Mary on the Quay St Mary on the Quay is the oldest Roman Catholic church in Bristol. It was formerly administered by the Society of Jesus and is currently served by the Divine Word Missionaries. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Visit Hotwells plaques